Assimil Arabo

[Eva Dunckel]

Arabicis the official language of 22 countries, accounting for approx. 300 million Arabic speakers worldwide. The Arabic used in this work is that of the press, radio and television. This common language, known as unified modern Arabic, is very close to classic or literary Arabic. In the first part of the course, called the impregnation phase, you will be introduced to Arabic characters and the rudiments of the language. Soon, you will be able to read and you will come to assimilate many simple constructions and little phrases used in everyday life. In the second part, you will move on to the active study phase. What you have learned gives you extended and solid means of expression to make yourself understood in an Arabic-speaking country. The lessons and accompanying tips will guide you step by step to independence. Once you have finished, you will be able to understand and express yourself in all common situations in everyday life.

Recordings of all the texts and translation exercises are available separately. Recorded by Arabic-speaking actors, they are a vital learning asset. The title is:ٱللّغةٱلعربيّة -

Levantine is not officially recognized in any state or territory. Although it is the majority language in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, it is predominantly used as a spoken vernacular in daily communication, whereas most written and official documents and media in these countries use the official Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a form of literary Arabic only acquired through formal education that does not function as a native language. In Israel and Turkey, Levantine is a minority language.

The lack of written sources in Levantine makes it impossible to determine its history before the modern period. Aramaic was the dominant language in the Levant starting in the 1st millennium BCE; it coexisted with other languages, including many Arabic dialects spoken by various Arab tribes. With the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, new Arabic speakers from the Arabian Peninsula settled in the area, and a lengthy language shift from Aramaic to vernacular Arabic occurred.

Scholars use "Levantine Arabic" to describe the continuum of mutually intelligible dialects spoken across the Levant.[15][16][17] Other terms include "Syro-Palestinian",[18] "Eastern Arabic",[b][20] "East Mediterranean Arabic",[21] "Syro-Lebanese" (as a broad term covering Jordan and Palestine as well),[22] "Greater Syrian",[23] or "Syrian Arabic" (in a broad meaning, referring to all the dialects of Greater Syria, which corresponds to the Levant).[1][2] Most authors only include sedentary dialects,[24] excluding Bedouin dialects of the Syrian Desert and the Negev, which belong to the dialects of the Arabian peninsula. Mesopotamian dialects from northeast Syria are also excluded.[22] Other authors include Bedouin varieties.[25]

Levantine is a variety of Arabic, a Semitic language. There is no consensus regarding the genealogical position of Arabic within the Semitic languages.[34] The position of Levantine and other Arabic vernaculars in the Arabic macrolanguage family has also been contested. According to the Arabic tradition, Classical Arabic was the spoken language of the pre-Islamic and Early Islamic periods and remained stable until today's MSA.[26] According to this view, all Arabic vernaculars, including Levantine, descend from Classical Arabic and were corrupted by contacts with other languages.[35][36] Several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic.[37][38] Thus, Arabic vernaculars are not a modified version of the Classical language,[39] which is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor.[40] Classical Arabic and vernacular varieties all developed from an unattested common ancestor, Proto-Arabic.[40][41] The ISO 639-3 standard classifies Levantine as a language, member of the macrolanguage Arabic.[42]

Sedentary vernaculars (also called dialects) are traditionally classified into five groups according to shared features: Peninsular, Mesopotamian, Levantine, Egyptian, and Maghrebi.[43][23] The linguistic distance between these vernaculars is at least as large as between Germanic languages or Romance languages. It is, for instance, extremely difficult for Moroccans and Iraqis, each speaking their own variety, to understand each other.[44] Levantine and Egyptian are the two prestige varieties of spoken Arabic;[45][46][47] they are also the most widely understood dialects in the Arab world[25] and the most commonly taught to non-native speakers outside the Arab world.[46]

Levantine is spoken in the fertile strip on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean: from the Turkish coastal provinces of Adana, Hatay, and Mersin in the north[48] to the Negev, passing through Lebanon, the coastal regions of Syria (Latakia and Tartus governorates) as well as around Aleppo and Damascus,[4] the Hauran in Syria and Jordan,[49][50] the rest of western Jordan,[51] Palestine and Israel.[4] Other Arabic varieties border it: Mesopotamian and North Mesopotamian Arabic to the north and north-east; Najdi Arabic to the east and south-east; and Northwest Arabian Arabic to the south and south-west.[51][52]

The similarity among Levantine dialects transcends geographical location and political boundaries. The urban dialects of the main cities (such as Damascus, Beirut, and Jerusalem) have much more in common with each other than they do with the rural dialects of their respective countries. The sociolects of two different social or religious groups within the same country may also show more dissimilarity with each other than when compared with their counterparts in another country.[1]

The process of linguistic homogenization within each country of the Levant makes a classification of dialects by country possible today.[53][23] Linguist Kees Versteegh classifies Levantine into three groups: Lebanese/Central Syrian (including Beirut, Damascus, Druze Arabic, Cypriot Maronite[d]), North Syrian (including Aleppo), and Palestinian/Jordanian.[49] He writes that distinctions between these groups are unclear, and isoglosses cannot determine the exact boundary.[56]

The dialect of Aleppo shows Mesopotamian influence.[4] The prestige dialect of Damascus is the most documented Levantine dialect.[25] A "common Syrian Arabic" is emerging.[57] Similarly, a "Standard Lebanese Arabic" is emerging, combining features of Beiruti Arabic (which is not prestigious) and Jabale Arabic, the language of Mount Lebanon.[58][59] In ukurova, Turkey, the local dialect is endangered.[60][61] Bedouin varieties are spoken in the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula, areas of transition between Levantine and Egyptian.[62][63][64] The dialect of Arish, Egypt, is classified by Linguasphere as Levantine.[18] The Amman dialect is emerging as an urban standard in Jordanian Arabic,[65][66] while other Jordanian and Palestinian Arabic dialects include Fellahi (rural) and Madani (urban).[4][67][68] The Gaza dialect contains features of both urban Palestinian and Bedouin Arabic.[69]

Levantine is primarily spoken by Arabs. It is also spoken as a first or second language by several ethnic minorities.[3] In particular, it is spoken natively by Samaritans[78] and by most Circassians in Jordan,[79][80] Armenians in Jordan[81] and Israel,[82] Assyrians in Israel,[82] Turkmen in Syria[83] and Lebanon,[84] Kurds in Lebanon,[85][86] and Dom people in Jerusalem.[87][88] Most Christian and Muslim Lebanese people in Israel speak Lebanese Arabic.[89][e] Syrian Jews,[72] Lebanese Jews,[91] and Turkish Jews from ukurova are native Levantine speakers; however, most moved to Israel after 1948.[60] Levantine was spoken natively by most Jews in Jerusalem, but the community shifted to Modern Hebrew after the establishment of Israel.[92][93] Levantine is the second language of Dom people across the Levant,[94][4] Circassians in Israel,[4] Armenians in Lebanon,[95] Chechens in Jordan,[96][80][81] Assyrians in Syria[4] and Lebanon,[97][98] and most Kurds in Syria.[4][99]

In addition to the Levant, where it is indigenous, Levantine is spoken among diaspora communities from the region, especially among the Palestinian,[68] Lebanese, and Syrian diasporas.[100] The language has fallen into disuse among subsequent diaspora generations, such as the 7 million Lebanese Brazilians.[101][4]

Different Peninsular Arabic dialects competed for prestige, including the Hijazi vernacular of the Umayyad elites. In the Levant, these Peninsular dialects mixed with ancient forms of Arabic, such as the northern Old Arabic dialect.[121] By the mid-6th century CE, the Petra papyri show that the onset of the article and its vowel seem to have weakened. The article is sometimes written as /el-/ or simply /l-/. A similar, but not identical, situation is found in the texts from the Islamic period. Unlike the pre-Islamic attestations, the coda of the article in 'conquest Arabic' assimilates to a following coronal consonant.[122] According to Pr. Simon Hopkins, this document shows that there is "a very impressive continuity in colloquial Arabic usage, and the roots of the modern vernaculars are thus seen to lie very deep".[123]

The Damascus Psalm Fragment, dated to the 9th century but possibly earlier, sheds light on the Damascus dialect of that period. Because its Arabic text is written in Greek characters, it reveals the pronunciation of the time;[124] it features many examples of imāla (the fronting and raising of /a/ toward /i/).[125] It also features a pre-grammarian standard of Arabic and the dialect from which it sprung, likely Old Hijazi.[126] Scholars disagree on the dates of phonological changes. The shift of interdental spirants to dental stops dates to the 9th to 10th centuries or earlier.[127] The shift from /q/ to a glottal stop is dated between the 11th and 15th centuries.[128] Imāla seems already important in pre-Islamic times.[125]

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